Left: Coulter Fussell, The Bear, 2019, Hand pieced and hand stitched of various discarded textiles, 64” x 92”, Right: Butch Anthony, Economic Stimulus Package
Coulter Fussell’s early developed artsview perceives craft and other arts as indistinguishable from one another. Painting, sculpture, and textile work are one solitary entity in her mind. From youth, the combination developed into an unintentional mash-up, resulting in quilts and textile works that defy expectations of the medium. Fussell hand-pieces, stitches, paints, and repurposes found textiles to create quilts that both honor and defy the quilting tradition. She relies on the no-holds-barred nature of contemporary painting rules to free her compositions from the constraints of pattern. In turn, she simultaneously relies on the strict discipline of traditional craftwork to act as a self-editing tool. Fussell’s work blurs the lines between art and craft, positing that both practices have an element of functionality and non-functionality. For her exhibition at the Halsey Institute, Fussell will be creating all-new work.
As a multi-faceted self-taught artist, Butch Anthony creates works that investigate and appropriate images from the American vernacular. Though Anthony’s work emanates from the folk art idiom, his works are unmistakably original in concept and execution. The term “folk art” is generally applied to traditional media such as wood carving, quilt-making, functional pottery, weaving–items that are passed down from generation to generation. Anthony’s work often has a charming immediacy because of the familiarity of the selected materials, yet this surface appeal is often undermined by the conceptual premise. Some images evince a biting sarcasm or ironic wit, while others poke fun at our consumerist society.
Coulter Fussell: The Raw Materials of Escape and Butch Anthony: Inside/Out are on view at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art (161 Calhoun Street, Charleston, South Carolina) from January 17 to February 29, 2020.
